{"id":96363,"date":"2025-07-27T09:27:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T09:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/96363\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T09:27:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T09:27:40","slug":"clayton-kershaw-cant-match-garrett-crochet-in-dodgers-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/96363\/","title":{"rendered":"Clayton Kershaw can’t match Garrett Crochet in Dodgers’ loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BOSTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Dodgers<\/a> had MLB strikeout leader Garrett Crochet<\/a> on the ropes early Saturday night, after Shohei Ohtani<\/a> and Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> each homered within the game\u2019s first three at-bats.<\/p>\n

But, in what became a frustrating 4-2 loss<\/a> to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Crochet bobbed and weaved around every knockout blow the Dodgers tried to land.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we played hard. I thought we competed,\u201d manager Dave Roberts<\/a> said. \u201cHe made pitches when he needed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, in a game that was decided on the margins \u2014 through high-leverage at-bats and two-strike battles and risky decisions that backfired on the basepaths \u2014 Crochet was just a little bit better than Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw<\/a>, using his heavy fastball and premium all-around stuff to wiggle out of trouble in a way his aging 37-year-old counterpart couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

While Crochet limited damage over the rest of his six-inning start, striking out 10 batters to prevent each of the eight other Dodgers who reached base from scoring, Kershaw faltered when his back was up against the wall, yielding the lead in a three-run second inning before exiting after another run in the fifth.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, when you\u2019re facing a guy like Crochet, there\u2019s not gonna be a ton of runs,\u201d said Kershaw, who once invoked such fear from opponents but now has to grind with gradually diminished stuff. \u201cOur guys did a good job getting a lead there early and really having good at-bats. Just frustrating not to be able to hold it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making his first career regular-season start at Fenway Park (he had only previously pitched here in the 2018 World Series), Kershaw appeared to be battling his mechanics from the start. He delivered a first-pitch strike to only five of the first 14 batters. Even worse, he couldn\u2019t put guys away on two-strike counts.<\/p>\n

It culminated in the three-run second inning from the Red Sox (56-50). Trevor Story worked a leadoff walk. Carlos Narv\u00e1ez belted a double off the Green Monster. And, on a night he had two triples and a double, Jarren Duran laced a line drive to center that got over Andy Pages<\/a>\u2019 head to plate two runs (Duran would later score on a sacrifice fly).<\/p>\n

All three batters did their damage with two strikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeeded to figure it out a little bit better,\u201d Kershaw said of the second inning. \u201cThe last few innings [after that], I actually felt pretty good with everything. Just couldn\u2019t make the adjustment that second inning. And that\u2019s what cost us.\u201d<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"Los <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Boston <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers in the first inning Saturday. 2.<\/strong> Boston starting pitcher Garrett Crochet delivers in the first inning Saturday. (Steven Senne \/ Associated Press) <\/p>\n

Kershaw eventually settled down. He rediscovered his command in the third, working around a pair of singles with a double-play grounder and strikeout of Story. He found the kind of rhythm that has keyed his surprisingly strong 18th season from there, retiring seven consecutive batters to work his way into the fifth inning.<\/p>\n

But with two outs in the fifth, Red Sox slugger Alex Bregman outlasted Kershaw in another two-strike battle, bouncing a single through the infield on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. Then, rookie star Roman Anthony drove him home with a double off the Monster.<\/p>\n

Kershaw\u2019s night ended there, with four runs (tying the second-most earned runs he has allowed this season) and only two strikeouts over 4\u2154 innings raising his season earned-run average to 3.62.<\/p>\n

\u201cCould have been a super frustrating day,\u201d Kershaw said. \u201cNow it\u2019s only mildly frustrating \u2014 just that that\u2019s still in there, I can still get people out. It\u2019s just that second inning got to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crochet, meanwhile, never wavered after the Dodgers (61-44) did their early damage.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re facing guys like Crochet, you don\u2019t get so many good pitches to hit,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cThe ones that you do, you just have to put it in play and hopefully you can get good contact, do some damage, like we did in the first inning. After that, he was throwing the ball very good. He didn\u2019t miss many pitches in the strike zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers, in an effort to manufacture extra offense, didn\u2019t help their own cause on the bases, either.<\/p>\n

After the first-inning home runs, another rally fizzled when Freddie Freeman<\/a> was thrown out trying to go from first to third base on a Pages single that was initially booted by Duran in left field.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers challenged the call, with Roberts applauding Freeman\u2019s aggressiveness from the dugout, but the out was upheld. Tommy Edman lined out to end the inning an at-bat later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was a good play, I liked that,\u201d Roberts said of Freeman\u2019s decision. \u201cHe\u2019s got to make a perfect throw to get Freddie right there. But in a first and third [situation] with a two-run lead, if we get into a situational spot right there, it could\u2019ve been a different game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, the rest of the night was more of the same.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers had two other innings end with outs on the bases. Hern\u00e1ndez was caught stealing for the final out of the fifth (on a close play the Dodgers were unable to review after burning their challenge earlier, but one Hern\u00e1ndez was told likely would\u2019ve been upheld). Will Smith was gunned down trying to turn a single into a double in the seventh, after Crochet\u2019s exit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you try to play it straight and try to collect a bunch of hits, it\u2019s just not going to happen,\u201d Roberts said of the Dodgers\u2019 game plan on the bases. \u201cWe had a chance early and then he started bearing down and the velocity ticked up. Then hits were harder to come by.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani examines his bat before striking out in the fourth inning Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Steven Senne \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

And if that wasn\u2019t enough, Ohtani squandered several more chances in deflating sequences at the plate.<\/p>\n

Despite extending his National League lead with his 38th home run to start the game, the slugger also moved into the top-five of the NL in strikeouts with three in each of his remaining at-bats Saturday, finishing with 124 on the season.<\/p>\n

In both the second and fourth, No. 9 hitter Hyeseong Kim<\/a> managed to single off Crochet (surprising results given Kim\u2019s recent struggles, which Roberts said have been magnified by a recent shoulder injury). But both times, Ohtani followed with inning-ending Ks, chasing out of the zone on a fastball up and a cutter that was well away.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers, nonetheless, gave themselves one last chance against Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate after a two-out walk from Esteury Ruiz.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The batter representing that tying run: Mookie Betts<\/a>, who was out of the starting lineup for a second straight game after spending the week back home in Nashville following a death in his family, but arrived at the ballpark shortly after first pitch to be available to pinch-hit.<\/p>\n

His number was called with the game on the line, in what marked just his second trip back to Fenway Park since being traded from the Red Sox to the Dodgers<\/a> in 2020. <\/p>\n

Alas, the former MVP brought a night of missed chances to a frustratingly fitting conclusion, getting rung up on a called third strike to set up a series rubber match Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Dodgers had MLB strikeout leader Garrett Crochet on the ropes early Saturday night, after Shohei Ohtani and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":96364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[5955,11632,1582,276,2442,6595,1910,20401,63403,3688,28445,2961,224,5337,5948,51384,3959,10201,44316,4712],"class_list":{"0":"post-96363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-andy-pages","9":"tag-batter","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-dodgers","13":"tag-freddie-freeman","14":"tag-game","15":"tag-garrett-crochet","16":"tag-green-monster","17":"tag-inning","18":"tag-kershaw","19":"tag-la","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-losangeles","22":"tag-loss","23":"tag-plate","24":"tag-red-sox","25":"tag-run","26":"tag-saturday-night","27":"tag-shohei-ohtani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114924489942256371","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}